五常 (wǔcháng): the five Confucian virtues: ben…

Meanings

1 the five Confucian virtues: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness
2 the Permanent Five (P5 of the UN Security Council)

Characters

五

Examples

仁义礼智信合称五常。

Rén, yì, lǐ, zhì, xìn héchēng wǔcháng.

Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith together are called the five constants.

联合国安理会五常拥有否决权。

Liánhéguó Ānlǐhuì wǔcháng yǒngyǒu fǒujuéquán.

The P5 of the UN Security Council hold veto power.

Tips

usage

Per CC-CEDICT, two distinct modern senses. (1) Confucian: 五常 = 仁 (rén, benevolence), 义 (yì, righteousness), 礼 (lǐ, propriety), 智 (zhì, wisdom), 信 (xìn, faithfulness) — the 'five' half of 三纲五常. (2) Geopolitical: shorthand for 安理会五常 'the P5' — China, France, Russia, UK, USA. Context disambiguates: ancient ethics text → sense 1; foreign-affairs news → sense 2.